What’s going on:
• For the first time since 2019, students are heading back to school without many covid precautions.
• Despite Covid cases calming down, students’ mental health continues to be affected by pandemic learning and lifestyle disruptions.
How students are feeling:
• In 2021, more than a third of high schoolers reported experiencing poor mental health during the covid-19 pandemic, according to the CDC.
• Forty-four percent of high schoolers persistently felt sad or hopeless.
• One in five teens considered suicide during the pandemic.
What experts are saying:
• More mental health resources for students are needed, including guidance counselors.
• The U.S. is currently dealing with a guidance counselor shortage. Only about 4% of schools meet or exceed the American School Counselor Association’s recommended student-to-counselor ratio.
• Other solutions include implementing social-emotional learning curriculum, student mental health extracurricular groups, and better funding for in-school mental health supports.
On this episode of In Depth, listen as we talk to recent graduates from Staten Island Technical High School about the mental health challenges they faced during the pandemic. We also spoke with Psychologist Dr. Allison Holman, who specializes in collective trauma, and Dawn Yuster, the director of the School Justice Project.